As a returning FBC Alumni:What have you most enjoyed and learned from former FBC conferences? Who would you like to see this year?

I’ve most enjoyed Monica Bhide and Bee Wilson’s interventions and workshops, and learned a lot about about content, media kit and so on (but I’m still very bad at those!) I have something up my sleeve but I’d rather keep it for myself until it actually takes shape 😉

Clearsprings, Oatly, Mornflakes, Patron Even though the die has been cast I would have liked to see Pukka, Yorkshire Tea, Colman’s, Pimm’s, Mc Vities

Is blogging your full time job? If not, what is your day job? Tell us a bit about what you get up to when you’re not working on your blog – your work, family life, projects, hobbies…

I work part time as a goldsmith, write advertorials and sometimes work as a translator.

Lately I switched to a macrobiotic diet (even though I do cheat every now and then…) got hooked on pilates and sort of quit smoking so I guess healthy lifestyle is growing on me. I love cinema, music and feeding my friends, would like to travel more.

Would you like to become a full time blogger and focus your professional career in this area? How do you think brands could work better with bloggers? How would you describe your relationship with bloggers and industry folk?

My dream would be to earn money as a recipe developer but anything related to the blog, everything but selling myself for the sake of money of course, is welcome as long as we talk about quality. Currently I am working to be able to live with blog related works, such as recipe developing, workshops and so on. I think a lot of brands have the bad habit of contacting a lot of bloggers, any bloggers, without even checking out the country where they work, ask basically for free work/recipes in exchange of a feature on their websites. I don’t like this, blogging can be really hard work and a lot of bloggers put most of their time and energy working on good content.

What first motivated you to blog and how has blogging changed your life?What’s your ultimate blogging dream – where do you plan to take it in the future? What are your future aspirations – both for the blog and for any related activity? How do you plan to continue to grow and develop your blog? (your own cookbook, a supper club, restaurant, product line perhaps?)

A divorce and being unemployed, I needed something to keep me going. I would like to be a better photographer and stylist, I would like to be able to offer different services, not only recipe development.

Travel more even though I’m not sure wether I would be a good travel blogger (mostly because I’m not an awesome photographer). A cookbook and maybe open a little bakery-library-nice place to have a tea.

How do you shop for food – supermarkets, farmer market, local shops, online etc?

Mostly supermarket…unfortunately where I live there are no grocery stores at hand (not having a car shopping can be murder).

What blogging trends are you enjoying at the minute? Do you follow trends religiously or are you most interested in setting new trends yourself, a bit of both, or do you ignore them all together?

Not really into blogging trends and trends generally, I look around…aquafaba is a huge thing, but up until now I tried only once and failed miserably.

Have supper clubs now had their day or is this just the start of bigger things to come?

I think supper club can develop more, unfortunately no supper clubs close to me…even though with friends we may be working on a similar concept every now and then.

What’s the most unusual restaurant you have ever eaten at?

Here in Lugano I ate a flammkuchen from an oven on wheels, at Fusion festival…I had never seen such an oven.

If you had to eat one country’s traditional dish for a year, what would it be? What would be your last meal on earth?

I would have an Iranian dish, any Iranian dish.

My last meal would be parmigiana di melanzane

Japan U.S.A.

Does the proliferation of food programmes on TV aid or hinder your quest to develop and sustain a food blog? In what way?

I guess it helps, in Italy and probably here in Ticino, you say you are a foodblogger and people think you are amaaaaazing (even though in Italy especially the foodblogging scene is quite packed and good bloggers are fewer and fewer compared to new blogs popping out writing posts about tomato sauce pasta).

What are your thoughts on the future of TV? Particularly, what are your thoughts on vlogging? Celebrity chefs who use their profile for the greater good or to make us all eat healthily – is that a good thing or an annoying publicity stunt? Who is your favourite celebrity chef and / or favourite food writer?

I’m not really into vlogging, I love BBC’s and british tv productions I just hope they can keep the good job I am all for it, love Jaime Oliver and what he’s doing Yotam Ottolenghi, Jane Grisgson, Nigel Slater…what should I add? I would cook for Marchesa Luisa Casati.

Do you have a favourite kitchen tool or appliance – either a new addition or a trusted old favourite? What’s on your wish-list right now? (Could be a gadget, appliance, ingredient/product, book, restaurant, course, travel destination etc)

What other influences or interests would you say make for a great food blog – travel, fashion, tech, lifestyle? To achieve a successful blog what comes first – the dishes, the styling, the photography or the words?

Chemistry Macro is shaping my life, and kind of making my social life a nightmare 😀 Dishes, photography, styling, words…all are on the same level, only a few reach perfection (and I am surely not one of those :D)

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